Hi everyone! I hope you all had an amazing June. I spent the month moving my family across the country, from Washington state to the mid-Atlantic coast. We had a ton of adventures (and misadventures, as is often the case!) along the way, but I couldn’t wait to get back to baking and sharing some of my favorite sweet things with you. We just got moved into our house last week, and after digging through a good four dozen boxes I was able to find my measuring cups and most of baking supplies. My local supermarket had a huge deal on strawberries this week, so I couldn’t think of anything lovelier to make than a classic strawberry shortcake. Some people like to fancy it up with rhubarb or mint or some other crazy stuff, but I’m of the opinion that the classic is the best version- so that’s what you’ll find here today. A classic shortcake, simple strawberries, and homemade whipped cream so delicious and easy that you’ll never want that junk out of a can again!

Strawberry shortcake. Everyone knows someone else that knows how to make it, but so few people ever try to make it themselves. They settle for a package of those terrible spongecake shells from the grocery store, frozen strawberries, and a tub of Cool-Whip. Now there’s nothing wrong with that in a pinch, but I think that if you give this 100% homemade recipe a real shot you’ll agree that the extra 20 minutes it takes to make it is more than worth it. There’s just a couple hints and tips that I’ll share with you ahead of the recipe itself that should help you on your way to strawberry greatness!

The Strawberries

Before you do anything else, you’ll prepare your strawberries. Leaving them to sit after they’re cut gives the berries time to release all the yummy juice and mix into a syrup with sugar. You need to hull the strawberries first, which means to remove the leafy top bit and the tougher white part in the middle of the strawberry. You can do it with a knife, or a spoon, or a million other little gadgets made for the task, but I’ll give you my best trick for a perfect and easy hull manuever: a reusable plastic straw!

Chop off the greenery and then just pop the straw into the top and out the bottom, and it will pull the hull out when you remove the straw. Once you’ve done that, quarter your strawberries, add the sugar according to the recipe below, and put in the fridge for at least half an hour (although 2 hours is ideal) and wait for the juices to release. Give the mixture a good stir before spooning over your shortcakes.

The Shortcake

There’s all types of shortcake out there, and just as many ways to prepare it. This shortcake recipe tends toward sweet, because I like it that way! Just like a pie crust, the key to a good shortcake is to cut cold butter into it with a pastry cutter. The butter will melt in the oven during baking and make the flakiest, yummiest biscuits ever. You can make these shortcakes in a drop form (just plonking small piles of dough onto your baking sheet) but I prefer using a 3″ round cookie cutter and getting a uniform shape.

I think it makes it easy to split the shortcakes after baking. Place them on the baking sheet with their edges lightly touching, then brush each shortcake with heavy cream using a basting brush, and then sprinkle the tops liberally with demerara (also called turbinado) sugar before baking.

The Whipped Cream

Honestly, this is my favorite part! It’s just heavy whipping cream, a bit of granulated sugar, and vanilla extract. It’s easiest to make it a cold, metal bowl. Some people find that using a plastic- or even glass- room temperature bowl prevents the heavy cream from whipping up correctly. If you don’t have a metal bowl, don’t worry- you can use a medium to large metal saucepan!

Stick it in the fridge for about ten minutes and then use it just like a bowl. You may need to tilt it just a bit onto its side to whip it efficiently, but anything metal is preferable to plastic or glass. While you can store the whipped cream after you make it, it’s best to make it fresh and serve immediately- and you’ll impress your audience!

With all that said, let’s get on to the recipe! Strawberries wait for no baker!